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Suehiro Rika vs Arashiyama 6000

I am relatively new to Japanese knives and have been doing a ton of research on sharpening including watching Dave's DVDs and have used oilstones on pocket knives when I wore a younger man's clothes. I have settled on the Bester 1200 for a medium/coarse stone and am thinking about either the Suehiro Rika or the Arashiyama 6000/Takenoko 8000 for a medium/fine stone. I'm looking for input as to which of the two would be better in the long run.

I've seen both described as fast-cutting (for the grit), great feedback, great for beginners, and leave a good finish--but finding people who compare them is a bit more difficult. The price difference between the two is only $13, so cost isn't really an issue. I would especially appreciate feedback from people who have used both.

Pat, I have the stones you mentioned as well. It have to say the the takenono/arashiama are wonderful stones for dry stropping to refresh the edge.

400 nanawa, 1200 bester, 5K Rika, ~6K takenono then finish stainless knives on 1u boron carbide on balsa, for carbon I finished with 1u diamond spray on felt. However being a home cook, I'm able to go months between sharpening by refreshing the edge with just a stone strop then compound. I only use the 400 when a customers knife needs thinning.

I'm no way a sharpening expert but thanks to folks on the forum, I think I've gleaned some knowledge on the subject. I'm able to bring most double bevel knives back to sticky sharp.

I was in your situation your about a year ago, there may be better stones out there but I'm continually impressed with the Takenono.

They work together but I supposed you could jump from the 1200 to the 6K takenono? I think most would add the 5K Rika in the progression. But like I said I know very little about stones and this progression was suggested to me

I could be wrong, but the Arashiyama is a 6k stone while the Takenoko is an 8k stone.

Not sure I need an 8k for a gyuto...

Should I go for the arashiyama or the rika?

I'm looking for something that first and foremost gives good feedback.

Thank you for the help!

Originally Posted by Mucho Bocho

They work together but I supposed you could jump from the 1200 to the 6K takenono? I think most would add the 5K Rika in the progression. But like I said I know very little about stones and this progression was suggested to me

1.The issue, I believe, is subjective feel vs actual grit size. In the case of the Takenoko/Arashiyama, it's compounded by the stone being sold under two names with different grits even though it appears to be the same stone.

2. From JapaneseKnifeSharpeningStore:

Suehiro Rika:
"This stone offers, what appears to be, a 3000x edge (not very shiny) however the edge quality is 5000x, no question about it. This stone makes a great stopping point for double bevel knives."

Takenoko
"This is a great stone in the quality of edge it provides. If you like an edge that bites then this is the stone for you. I find it cuts very fast yet isn't aggressive and it has such a great feeling, providing feedback, and making the sharpening experience more pleasurable. This stone will allow you to skip the use of many coarse and medium grit stones thus reducing your sharpening times without reducing quality of your end result...From my own testing I believe this stone to be the same as the Arashiyama 6k."

4. One additional benefit of the Arashiyama is that it can be permasoaked like the Bester.

5. As for the jump, there are plenty of 1000/6000 combo stones. There are plenty of threads with people who use 1000/1200 and then jump to either the Suehiro Rika or the Arashiyama. But as I said before, only one thread that I could find where they were directly compared.http://www.cheftalk.com/t/63213/toji...60#post_335445

As nice as the Suehiro Rika is, it really acts more like a 3K than a 5K and does not compare to the Arashiyama/Takenoko as a finishing stone. They do different things. The Rika is an extremely pleasant stone to use, and you can make the Rika polish up to a kinda sorta 5K level by really working the mud and breaking down the abrasive; but it's nowhere near as fast as the Arashiayama to draw a burr, nor will it give you anywhere near the same level of "slippery" polish.

It's confusing, but the grit numbers only tell you so much. Stones have their own personalities, you have to work with them to figure them out. Your best strategy (and mine too) is to ask people we trust who have used them. Of course, that means figuring out the people too -- whom you should listen to and who will only waste your time.

I have the Arashiyama and I like the response of the stone. Its a hard stone that isn't prone to gouging(not that I've done anything to deliberately do that of course) but it is very easy to use as it cuts quite quickly with a couple of spritzers of water, doesn't load and will leave a decent smooth shine on your edge. The only thing about this,for me, is that I would prefer using an intermediate 4000grit before the arashiyama as I don't like to spend too much time trying to finish off the stone on the 6000grit with such a big progression. I guess what I'm trying to say is,a little more time on my 4000 makes life easier for me on the 6000 arashiyama.
Ease of care for me is simple,keep it aired and comfortable until you use it,and clean it gently after each use. After washing I just let it dry on a rack before it goes back on my shelf.